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Here are some opinions about Nordland from all over the
world. If you find any more reviews concerning Apoptose just send them and we
try to add them to this list.
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Black Magazine, No.
20, Sommer 2000 / Germany (:R*NE:):
""Nordland"
- der Name klingt geheimnisvoll, magisch und ansprechend.
"Nordland" - das tiefgrüne, sonnenlose Land, Heimstatt alter
Riten und Gebräuche. "Nordland" - atemberaubendes Debut der
deutschstämmigen Einmannformation Apoptose als Tesco 041. Die Musik ist
fließend, kalt, düster und rhythmisch. Verstörende naturgeräusche,
vereinzelte Einsätze von Snaredrums, die den kalten Klangfeldern einen
orchestralen Charakter verleihen. Kein Gesang, lediglich der Wind darf vom
"Abschied von der Sonne" oder dem "Nordlicht"
erzählen. Die Tracks haben etwas Majestätisches, etwas Erhabenes an
sich, sie fesseln und laden ein zum "Erntewôd". Langsam bauen
sie aufeinander auf, einem eindringlichen Gewitter am "Horizont"
ähnlich, um unser "Unter Bewusstsein" in einer
"Sturmnacht" zu fesseln, zu verhexen, zu bezaubern. "Nidstĺng"
enthält die einzigen stimmenähnlichen Frequenzen und bildet den
Mittelpunkt der omnipräsenten Mondbewegung.
Das Artwork muß als eins mit
den Klangfeldern gesehen werden: Es zeigt grünbewachsene Felder, Steine,
Naturrunen, den Kreislauf der Nachtsonne. Der Titel "Nordland"
ist nach außen geprägt, ebenso vier Runen, das Cover ist klappbar.
Selten hat man seit Omalas "ruhigen" Titeln oder Morthound eine
so gute CD dieses Genre zu Gehör bekommen! Apoptose - Another Development
for Tesco." |
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Cynfeirdd
website / France (JFK)
"All we know on this
new recruit of the famous Teutonic label Tesco is that it has been
initiated as an instrumental and electronic project by a gifted young lad
who pays homage to the majestic and luminous Germano-Scandinavian
landscapes. Pieces like "Abschied von der Sonne" or "Nidstĺng"
carry us away, far away until we virtually reach the Norwegian fjords…
Needless to add that this album has almost therapeutic and saving virtues,
especially when one lives in a small urban flat, in a polluted and hostile
area. To be discovered with the utmost urgency, unless it's already been!" |
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Funprox
website / The Netherlands (HD)
"One
of my favourite albums of the last two years must be the debut cd from
Apoptose. Nordland is an icy trip to the northern regions, which can also
be understood as a synonym for the darker side of nature. Apoptose is a
one man project, which makes instrumental, mostly electronic music, with
great depth and variety. The music on Nordland really has a arctic, barren
atmosphere. Harsh industrial sounds are combined with softer ambient
passages and orchestral parts. All songs are long and carefully built up.
My personal favourite is 'Abschied von der Sonne', a track with
threatening percussion and an orchestral development which slowly builds
up the tension.
The artwork, by Polygon, is also stunning. The digipack contains great
images of deserted archaic structures. This fits in perfectly with the
ritual character, which this album also has. I recommended listening to it
with headphones on, but I also find it impressive to hear this music at
loud volume on an industrial dancenight. Nordland is the perfect
soundtrack for the desolate traveller!" |
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Greyarea webzine / Italy
(Riccardo Conforti)
"Incredible
good job, the Apoptose one, band devoted to apocalyptic dark/ambient
sonorities of really great effect. Issued at the end of 2000, with a very
elegant digipack that makes the most of it content, this CD suggests seven
nightmare's tracks: try to imagine slow synthetic notes that collide with
a background of chilling loop noise to describe post apocalyptic settings
scenery, where the only form of life is the Death! In their compositions,
the Apoptose remind me a lot about the darkest Raison d'Etre, with very
long and slow sounds, with some raid of Gregorian chant and a distort,
very far and reflected guitar, as you are listening it from another
dimension. I don't know how many pieces of work the Apoptose have done,
but I think that this one is their debut album, and if it is really in
this way this band will surely be the next star of a musical outline that
are growing fast."
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La
Defunction website / Spain
"Lo primero que me llamó
la atención de este trabajo es que bajo el logo de Tesco se asomaba un
proyecto que no estaba cargado de simbología militar, que no vomitaba polémica
con imágenes y parafernalia fascista. El caso es que Apoptose se mantiene
totalmente al margen, tanto la imagen como el sonido, están totalmente
limpios de cualquier relación política.
Después de oír
detalladamente este trabajo nos encontramos con un sonido muy cercano al
dark ambient, con algunos acercamientos al industrial y con marcadas
percusiones rituales, lo que lo convierte en un disco bastante variado.
Como sigue los cánones es prácticamente instrumental y en los algo más
de 50 minutos que dura nos dirige por paisajes sonoros paganos, culturas
antiguas precristianas, equilibrio con la naturaleza, pero sobre todo
tranquilidad y armonía.
Nordland
es un buen trabajo de una buena banda, que sabe lo que quiere y lo que nos
quiere ofrecer."
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Letters
from the nuovo Europae magazine / Romania (Nihil)
"Solemn
lofty anthems here, in the incomparable digipack with embossed letters and symbols.
This is the music to execute in a pagan temple -
passionate, dramatic, sacrificial
and ceremonial -the best of what those gloomy German geniuses can conceive and
make audible. The pure symphony
in seven parts, with mighty severe prelude, tense
culmination and fading final. Except sorrowful keyboards roulades no
presence of a human being
comes to light during all the time. Only unconstrained natural and supernatural
forces are active - and you can enjoy all their cleanness, strength and perfection.
Slow heavy waves of relic drones are piercing with gale rushes,
thunderclaps of titanic drums
and Valkyries divine choruses in the twilight of inclement Northern Nature.
I love this album for the very special sensation he creates - the
sensation of being lost and
lonely amidst endless fields and meadows in the face of crawling darkness..."
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MozgaloM website / Hungary
"Mondhatnánk
azt is, hogy rejtélyes ez a zenekar, ha éppen akarnánk, mert nem túl
sokat lehet tudni róla. Kontaktként egy e-mail cím van megjelölve
valamint a számcímek és a zene. Ehhez igazodik az igényesen
kivitelezett borító, amelyen távoli és közelebbi képeket láthatunk
arról a bizonyos északi földről, amelyre mintegy rávetül az élet
rúnáját formázó nyírfa (?) ág. (Lehet persze, hogy ez egy kicsit közhelyes
is, de akkor a borító is az, mivel ez látható rajta.)
A zene viszonylag korrekt, bár nem túl eredeti, simán beilleszthető
az IN THE NURSERY (korai), KIRLIAN CAMERA, LES JOYAUX DE LA PRINCESSE által
képviselt vonalba. Instrumentális és elektronikus. A nagy pasztell,
mindent betemetni akaró, kinyújtott, mélyen búgó elektronikus
hangokat néha megtöri illetve kiegészíti egy-egy jól megválasztott
militáns dobolás, illetve bejátszott loopok. Hosszú, lassú lefolyású
szerzemények, kitalált struktúrával, ezzel nincs is különösebb baj.
A gond csak az, hogy nem talál az ember mögöttük semmit sem.
A számcímek is néha közhelyesek, nem tudom mit is lehetne velük
kezdeni.
Talán ugyanazt, amit a lefotózottősi monolitekkel: bármit."
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Sententia website / The
Netherlands
"Another
descent Tesco release. Not the usual Tesco sound though, because
"Nordland" is very tranquil. The music is very ambient, often
atmospheric, sometimes a bit darker now and then with some drumming and
mystical samples. 7 Long tracks making a cd of 51 minutes. Not too long
though, just like my reviews of today. Anyway, the digipack looks very
nice and the music sounds very nice as well. I can recommand this to CMI
fans and anyone who enjoys tranquil ambient."
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Soihdut magazine,
No. 1 / Finland/Switzerland (Wintherr) "This
is truely awesome ambient music. It describes vast northern landscapes.
Everything is in total equilibrium in my opinion: There are very beautiful
sounds, but there are quite harsh ones, too. The composition technique is
built upon development. Everything progresses naturally, a melody or a
sound comes, goes and comes again in a new, progressed manifestation of
itself. This sounds very intellectual now, but it's not. I just really
love the patterns of this record. But most of all it's obviously emotional
greatness! Very meditative, dark, melancholic, northern (yes, very cliché,
I know, but it really captures a northern feeling) and natural soundscapes.
I think somebody has really put in a lot of his personality... oh I almost
forgot: the layout suits the music perfect, too, and hell, the best logo
I've ever seen! (maybe besides Burzum)" |
| Spectrum magazine / Australia
"With
elements of dark ambience and martial neo-classical, Apoptose infuse
inspiration from both into their own sound, subsequently creating a great
album in the process. To describe further, there are no tracks that could
really be considered neo-classical in their own right, yet it is the use
of ritual/martial percussion and solemn classical tunes that give this in
part a similar aura. Crowd noise, mid-paced pounding martial beats and
solemn keyboard layers are found on the opener, ‘Uter Bewusstsein’,
while the sorrowful yet rousing atmospheres of ‘Abschied Von Der Sonne’
are accentuated by selected outbursts of sharp drum rolls (that become
more prominent mid way through to take the main focus). The sampled female
choir vocals of ‘Nidstang’ give a broad comparison to Raison d’ętre
(at his most composed), with the backing music containing shifting bass
soaked noise and classically inspired keyboard layers. The classical type
movement continues into ‘Horizont’ with a deep cello being the most
discernable element of the melody. Mid-way in, heavy martial drumming
pounds into contention creating a much more aggressive aura over the
unchanging musical backing. The drawn out concluding track ‘Erntewod’
is content with slowly forging forward with a repeating tune and
fluctuating backing consolidating the pieces focus. The only thing left to
mention is the fold out digipack that complements the music perfectly - a
great merging of visuals and sound. This release is definitely recommended."
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Zillo
Magazine, 10-2000 / Germany (Dirk Hoffmann)
"Wunderbar
eindringlichen Dark Ambient bietet uns Apoptose auf seinem im edlen
Digipak mit Prägedruck ausgestatteten Album "Nordland", das
sich offensichtlich von den Weiten nordischer Naturlandschaften und
magischer Runen inspirieren ließ. Wer auf die Musik von Labels wie Cold
Meat Industry, Cold Spring oder Fluttering Dragon steht, dürfte großen
Gefallen an den elegischen Kompositionen von "Nordland"
finden."
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